This is how I recover from long runs

I ate most of this in two days. Ain't no shame in my game.

Sadly, there hasn't been much happening in my little world. Some co-workers are in town so I've been putting in some extra hours working on projects with them. Add in a bit of personal stress, and I haven't been running as regularly as I would like.

However, one small victory worth celebrating was a decently-paced 20-miler this past Saturday. The heat and humidity has been killing my paces — my past 20-milers this cycle were at a 11:04 and a 10:49 minute per mile average. Ugh! However, I managed this one at a 10:11 minute per mile average pace. It's still slower than I would like, but VAST improvement. In fact, my last LONG long run this training cycle at a better pace was my 14-miler two months ago!

I drove straight from the trailhead to the grocery store where I picked up this beauty — a half-gallon of Michigan-made salted caramel ice cream, which is pretty much the most delicious foodstuff ever invented. The best thing about this is that my husband doesn't really like salted caramel ice cream (I love him despite his flaws) so I got almost all of it to myself. It was all in my belly within about 36 hours.

My legs and feet were actually very tired and sore after this long run. I put my feet up for much of the day Sunday and managed a recovery run Monday morning, during which I felt like a drunken, lumbering elephant. It took until Tuesday to feel normal again. Did I push it a little too hard? Maybe. Do I only have one more 20+ run and then the marathon left, so I will just push through it and try to ignore the pain? Of course.

32 days until marathon day. I won't be setting any records, but now I'm feeling much better about the run itself.